pătlagină

Forms

pătlagină f (plural pătlagini)^[1] Regional variants include patlagină in Moldavia, platagină in Oltenia and plătanger in Oaș, besides many others: pârlaghină, plantagină, plătagină.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin plantāgō (“plantain”), through the accusative plantāginem or a form platagĭnem without the first /n/.^{[2][5][3][4][6][1]} The standard form has a metathesis of /l/ and /t/, while the regional platagină keeps the original order.^[1][2] Scriban explains the form by the influence of pătlăgică.^[7] Ciorănescu cites Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the REW.^[2][8] The Latin noun is formed on planta (“sole of the foot”) with the suffix -āgō, after the shape of the leaves.^[1][9]

Its Romance cognates include Italian piantaggine, French plantain, Spanish llantén and Portuguese tanchagem.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1704, in the oldest list of Romanian plant names, published by Magdalena Georgescu in 1981.^[4] MDA2's first record is Coteanu's 1942 study of the first list of Romanian plant names.^[3] The sense is the plant Plantago.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The name covers several species of Plantago: the greater plantain (Plantago major), used in folk medicine on wounds, and smaller species such as Plantago gentianoides.^[6][10] Folk names for it include limba-oii, iarbă-mare and mama-ploaie.^[6][10] Its leaves were used to heal wounds.^[11] DEX 2009 defines the genus by its medicinal uses: expectorant, emollient, healing.^[5] In Moldova Stati records the word for the water lily.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1704 – in the oldest list of Romanian plant names.^[4]
• 1825 – in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[6]
• 1929 – Panțu's botanical dictionary lists the forms pătlagină, plătagină and platagină.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. plantain: a plant of the genus Plantago, with oval leaves in a rosette and flowers in spikes, used in medicine.^[5][3][1]
2. (Moldova, regional) The water lily; compare nufăr.^[12]

Related words

• Latin plantāgō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. pătlagină
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 312
4. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pătlagină
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 790
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pătlagină
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 954
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6577
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor, p. 215
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 363
12. ^ a b Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. s.v. pătlagină